If you want to expand your horizons with information about growing cannabis at home, you are probably wondering what feminized seeds are and why there is such hype around them. We offer information on how to properly grow feminized cannabis at home.
Air Humidity
Throughout the life cycle of the bush, it is important to maintain optimal air humidity in the room. In the first few weeks after germination, this parameter is of particular importance. At this time, the humidity should be about 55-70%. After you buy feminized seeds that you can find here, grow them a little and enter the vegetative stage, the humidity level can be reduced to 40-60%.
Don’t Let the Soil Dry out
Whether you are growing cannabis in soil, substrate, or potting mix, it is essential to keep the root zone of the plants from drying out. The grower needs to understand how much water a cannabis plant needs at this stage of development. Plants should not need moisture, but at the same time, bushes should not be poured. If the plants, by their appearance, demonstrate that they lack moisture, they must be watered immediately and a similar situation should not be allowed in the future. Excessive drying of the soil or substrate at the beginning of the growing season can lead to serious problems and the loss of a significant part of the crop.
Moderate Watering
Too abundant watering also leads to problems with plant health. When the roots are constantly in the water, they begin to suffocate without oxygen. This leads to nutrient and moisture blockage and can also cause root rot.
Don’t rely on scheduled watering. The drying rate of the soil depends on many factors:
- temperature;
- air humidity;
- stage of plant development;
- variety genetics.
Comfortable Temperature
For the plants to be healthy and make the grower happy with a generous harvest, it is important to maintain a comfortable temperature regime. The optimal temperature for feminized cannabis is 20-27°C. For varieties with Indica genetics, it is better not to exceed 25°C. Sativa is more thermophilic, but the heat can lead to problems with humidity and watering, as the air and soil will dry out faster.
The main reason for the increased temperature in indoor cultivation is powerful lighting, which is installed in a confined space. Ventilation does not cope with the removal of excess heat, and as a result, plants suffer. Excessive heat from lamps is usually what leads to hermaphroditism in feminized cannabis. Under the influence of prolonged stress, plants begin to form male flowers. Sodium lamps are best placed in lamps with a heat sink and make sure that the optimal distance from the light source to the top of the bush is maintained.
Lighting
In addition to the fact that indoor lamps should not emit too much heat, also when growing feminized cannabis, special attention should be paid to the spectral composition of the light. For plants to actively develop, the blue spectrum should prevail during the growing season, and red during flowering. This will help the bushes reach their natural potential and give the grower a generous boost in yield.
Fertilizers
At different stages of the life cycle, plants consume nutrients in different proportions. At the beginning of the growing season, when the bushes just make their way out of the ground and begin to actively gain green mass, they especially need nitrogen. It should prevail in the planting diet, as it is the main building material in the formation of new stems, shoots, and leaves. After the transition to the flowering phase, it is necessary to change the composition of the top dressing and focus on a sufficient amount of phosphorus and potassium. These compounds stimulate flowering by making buds resinous and fragrant.
Males and Hermaphrodites
Even if the grower chooses to grow feminized cannabis seeds, plants should be regularly inspected for males and hermaphrodites during growth. They can appear due to the stresses that the plants were subjected to.
It is possible to determine the presence of them in your planting only after the start of flowering when the plants show their gender. The first sign that something is wrong in the process of growing is the formation of oblong, banana-bunch-like ovaries at the branching point of secondary shoots. If only they are observed on the whole plant, then the boy has grown. It must be removed as soon as possible and carefully so that the pollen from its inflorescences does not fall on the female buds.
If there are also male flowers on the bush, then this is hermaphrodite cannabis. In this case, the growers cut off all the shoots with pollen and leave the plant under close supervision. In the case of reformation of male flowers, such an individual must also be removed to avoid accidental pollination of all other plants.
The advantages of feminized seeds are homogeneity, as well as high quality of the crop with a characteristic taste, aroma, strength, and resistance to external factors. Feminized marijuana strains are a profitable investment for the grower, but they need to be grown according to special requirements.